Hide and Seek
by asephear
Summary: A concept of death, following the lines of Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap, the heartbreaker. Because when you die, you go in hiding. And it's for forever.
1. Chapter 1

**This is new ~ Well, I just hope you enjoy**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters.**

* * *

 _Where are we? What the hell is going on?_  
 _The dust has only just begun to fall,_  
 _Crop circles in the carpet, sinking, feeling._  
 _Spin me 'round again and rub my eyes._  
 _This can't be happening._  
 _When busy streets amass with people_  
 _Would stop to hold their heads heavy._

* * *

"Stop _hiding,_ Natsu!"

Lucy stomped around her house, infuriated. Natsu was hiding somewhere in her house, and it was making her paranoid. What if he peeked at her while she was taking a bath? No, there was _no_ way she was doing _anything_ until that flame-brain stopped hiding.

As she turned over every pillow in sight - pointlessly, that is to say, as Natsu would never ever hide behind a pillow and not be spotted - she said, "I saw your note! I know you're in here, Natsu!"

And then that got her - what if he wasn't in here? What if he wrote a note and then skipped away, just to get her paranoid and looking? That'd be something Natsu'd do. The idiot.

"Okay," breathed Lucy, "I'll count to three. If you're not out by three, I'm gonna - I'm gonna - something bad'll happen!"

She glanced around. Nobody popped out.

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three..."

Lucy prepared for a screech, for a 'haha I watched you be stupid there', for a 'why were you looking under the pillows?', for a 'I'm so _hungry'..._

She didn't get one.

Just when she thought that maybe Natsu actually _did_ just pull a prank on her, a tuft of pink appeared. She spotted it, and then thought _I've got you know, idiot,_ and then raced towards it.

"NaattSSUU!" she shrieked, pulling the tuft of pink. "You'd better explain yourself or else -!"

"'Scuse me, but you'd better explain _yourself."_

Lucy stopped pulling on the hair. Oh no. Oh no, she recognised that voice.

Her _landlady,_ who was wearing a _pink scarf._

Oh.

"Get. Off. My. Scarf," growled the ferocious monster. "It costed money, you know, and money is _everything!"_

 _"Oh,"_ whispered Lucy simply, dropping the scarf. She stumbled back, and bowed. "I'm sorry."

"You'd _better_ be. I'll let you off this time, but..." The landlady narrowed her eyes. "If you _dare_ touch my precious clothing again, it'll be away with your house." At that, the landlady clomped out of the room, and then out of the house. Lucy sighed, relieved, and collapsed onto the ground.

 _Why the hell was she there anyway?_ she wondered, shuddering. _Urgh. Weird thoughts._

The blonde shook away all her thoughts, and made her top priority a shower. She began taking off her top before...

"That was _weird."_

Lucy squealed, and pulled her shirt back down, turning around to face a pink-head idiot.

Natsu Dragneel.

Natsu Dragneel, standing there, in the middle of the room, his arms crossed and his stupid grin etched on his face.

"What the _hell_ are you doing here? Just...just _sauntering_ in like this is your house? Somebody could be _undressing,_ you know!" Lucy scolded. Natsu shrugged, and scratched his head.

"I was hiding. You were meant to find me, but you know...took you long enough, so I went to see what was going on, and then _she_ was here, and then stuff happened, and now I'm here," Nalu bluntly explained.

Lucy inhaled, trying to calm down. "And _why_ were you _hiding,_ Mr. Natsu Dragneel?"she hissed.

At that sentence, Natsu's face fell. His eyes lost their sparkle, and his smile slowly evolved into a frown.

"Well, hiding is a skill that everyone has," he began. "Right?"

Lucy nodded hesitantly, not sure where Natsu was going with this.

"But some people hide better then others, that's obviously, _really_ true. Uh, like I'm better than you are." Natsu held up his hands defensively. "Uh, no offence."

Lucy snorted. Like she'd be offended by _that._

Natsu carried on. "And some people are better seekers than others. Dragon slayers, for example, are good seekers cuz of their...smelly skills."

Lucy spluttered, " _Smelly_ skills? Don't you mean their _scent?_ They can smell a person from five miles away or something."

"Whatever," Natsu muttered, waving a dismissive hand. "But anyway. So I just made two points, yeah?"

"Yeah..."

"But even the _greatest_ seekers can't find even the worst of hiders in, like, one condition." Natsu held up a finger, his eyebrows slanting downwards. " _One_ condition only, and, like, it's really easy to come across, and, like, it can only _ever_ happen once."

"Why?" Lucy asked, engrossed. This was getting exciting.

"Because," Natsu said simply, crossing his arms again.

" _Why, Natsu?"_ Lucy persisted on, but Natsu wouldn't say.

"I don't wanna explain about that part," he said, "but I'll talk about the other bits. Basically, in that _one_ condition, _nobody_ can find the hider. _No one._ It's like, _game over_ for the seekers. And the hider," Natsu added extremely quietly, so that Lucy wouldn't hear.

The blonde nodded, and then there was an awkward silence, before Lucy said, "So...is that it?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Natsu scratched his head once more. There was another silence, and again, Lucy broke it.

"So, where did you read this from? What made you...sorta...get this idea?"

Natsu glanced at her, smiling a sad smile. He turned around, and then said, "Dunno. Must've heard it from somewhere."

"Oh?" asked Lucy. She had spotted Natsu's sad smile, and she didn't understand _why_ he looked so depressed.

"Yeah," murmured Natsu. _Yeah, I did. I heard it off someone. I heard it off someone you know._

 _I heard it off you, your future self, while she was dying._

 _She told me, inside my heart._

 _She was dying._

* * *

 ** _Future_**

The sky was maroon, and the ground a deeper shade of it. Fire spread all over the town, and people ran around, sobbing, crying, wailing, a few over dead bodies of loved ones.

A scruffy, blonde-haired girl was kneeling, her face over a body. the body owned pink, spiky hair, and dark eyes, with a hint of emerald in them.

 _"Natsu, oh God, Natsu,"_ rasped a nearby guy. He had deep blue hair, and was not wearing a top. His face was scarred and his eyes wide open. Next to him stood a blue-haired girl and an ivory-headed guy, who was slightly taller than everyone else. Both of their clothes were torn.

"Natsu? Is he asleep?" asked the blue-haired girl carelessly. The taller person shook his head, placing a hand gently on the blue-head's shoulder.

"Juvia," he began softly, "Natsu is...yes, he's asleep."

"Should we wake him up?"

"No, Juvia - listen to me." The taller person - Lyon - glanced over at Gray, the deep blue haired guy, who was now kneeling beside the blonde, Lucy, tears streaming down both of their faces.

Juvia naturally clasped her hands, holding them near to her heart. "Why - why is Gray crying?" she questioned quietly.

"Natsu's asleep, Juvia," mumbled Lyon. "And - and he's not going to awake. Ever."

It took a few blinks and tilts of the head before Juvia got what Lyon was trying to convey. Her eyes brimming with tears, she scurried over, and collapsed onto the floor, in-between Gray and Lucy. "Natsu's not waking up," whimpered Juvia, trying to keep her voice down. She didn't want to scar the blonde even more than she was now. Lucy's face was covered in tears, and they were dripping onto Natsu's hand. She was bent over his body, and holding his hand, like holding it would perhaps bring him back to life.

"Natsu isn't asleep," Lucy whispered. She had caught what Juvia had said, and was responding to it. "He isn't asleep."

"Lucy," began Gray, but the blonde cut him off.

"He's hiding," she said, her voice barely audible. "He's hiding, and not even the _best_ of seekers can find him again."

"But he isn't hiding, Lucy," pointed out Juvia. "His c - um, body is right here."

Lucy shook her head. "Juvia," she croaked, "what were you going to use instead of body?"

"Sorry?"

"What had been replaced with body?" repeated Lucy. "Which word was it?"

Juvia blinked, and then said, "C-Corpse, but Lucy-."

Lucy muttered, her voice hoarse, "That's what this is. It isn't him - it isn't his soul, not his life. It is merely a corpse; merely a shell for what he was." Lucy lifted her head, and Gray saw that she was still crying, but smiling a sad, sad smile. It seemed lifeless.

"Natsu's hiding," Lucy said in a hushed tone, "and no one will ever find him again."

Gray faced the sky, and started swearing. Why was the war still raging? Why didn't it stop? Natsu's life had ended; why hadn't the world ended along with it?

Lucy fixated her gaze back on Natsu. "Natsu," she uttered, "you told me, ages ago, that once you hid in this one condition, no seeker, whether good or bad, would ever find you again. Is that true?"

When no one responded, Lucy leaned forward some more, until she was in range of the dragon slayer's ear. "Come back, Natsu," she pleaded, "and I'll play more games with you, and I'll take more jobs, and heck, you can even sleep in my bed. Just please, don't hide."

Only the raging war could be heard in response to that.

* * *

 _Hide and seek._  
 _Trains and sewing machines._  
 _All those years they were here first.  
_  
 _Oily marks appear on walls_  
 _Where pleasure moments hung before._  
 _The takeover, the sweeping insensitivity of this still life._

* * *

 **Oh my I feel so bad ;w; I'm sorry**

 **x Indigo**


	2. Epilogue

**Again, so sorry.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. Or Hide and Seek, by Imogen Heap - the song - for that matter. Or The Band Perry's If I Die Young.**

* * *

 _Spin me 'round again and rub my eyes.  
_ _This can't be happening._

* * *

Lucy held her black umbrella above her head as she walked over to the graveyard. She glanced at the grave of Lisanna as she went past it, and then stood in front of the grave next to it. This scenario seemed familiar to Lucy - ah, that's right. She was watching Mirajane and Elfman stand in front of Lisanna's grave, and then their sister, Lisanna, really _did_ appear. In this situation, it was Lucy respecting Natsu, but this time, Natsu wasn't going to appear.

 _"In loving memory of Natsu Dragneel, who died in a courageous battle against death. We'll miss you,"_ recited a voice from behind Lucy. The blonde didn't bother turning around, but instead acknowledged the person with a 'hi, Erza.'

"Hello, Lucy," greeted Erza, stepping forward, her red hair plastered to her head as the rain fell down. "...How are you?"

Lucy didn't say anything. She didn't want to speak, because she _wasn't_ doing well. Her heart had broken as soon as she realised that Natsu had gone, hidden. And no seeker could _ever_ find him.

The blonde leaned forward, and traced her finger around the words that were carved into the gravestone, reading them as she did. "In loving memory of Natsu Dagneel," she said softly. "He died in a courageous battle against death. Fairy Tail will miss you." Lucy wiped a tear away from her eyes before saying, "He's hiding forever."

Erza nodded sympathetically - Gray had explained what happened that day to her. "Maybe he'll come out of the hiding, like Lisanna did."

"That was luck," Lucy murmured. "If the explanation was that simple, why hasn't everyone who died come back yet? Edolas isn't the _exact_ same to Earthland." Lucy's eyes began to water.

"Lucy?" called out a voice from behind. The two girls turned around to see just who they were talking about - Lisanna - running towards them, her arms flailing about. She was panting when she got there. "Lucy, are - are you okay?"

Lucy nodded, but it was a lie. She was _not_ okay. She never would be again.

"Lucy, I'm - I'm sorry about Natsu," stuttered Lisanna. "I brought the whole guild to come respect him."

As soon as she said that, Lucy spotted a mass of people advancing towards the graveyard. Gray, Juvia, Levy and Makarov were leading the crowd, sadness etched upon their faces.

When Erza saw them, she nudged Lucy, who stared at her, before raising her index finger in the air, as the crowd were.

"We'll live on, with Natsu overlooking us!" bellowed Erza, her finger also raised. The crowd cheered, and Lucy finally smiled, and dropped her umbrella.

 _Overlook us, Natsu,_ she thought, _'cuz I think you know exactly where we are, you sneaky, little hider._

 _We miss you._

* * *

 _I've never known the lovin' of a man_  
 _But it sure felt nice when he was holdin' my hand,_  
 _There's a boy here in town, says he'll love me forever,_  
 _Who would have thought forever could be severed by..._

 _...the sharp knife of a short life, oh well?_  
 _I've had just enough time_

* * *

As the guild slowly left the graveyard, Lucy held back until it was only her. She glanced over her shoulder and at the grave, and swore that the words on Natsu's grave had changed and added in more words.. Thinking that she must be crazy, she shook her head, and paid no heed to it, instead running after the rest of the guild.

* * *

 ** _In Loving Memory of Natsu Dragneel_**

 _He's hiding, but he sure in heck knows where you are,  
Lucy Heartfilia.  
Maybe he'll stop being a sneaky little brat  
And stop hiding.  
Maybe he'll call out, 'Hey!  
You lost that game of hide and seek!'  
And maybe he'll start yelling, and cackling  
And maybe he'll grin his stupid grin.  
But nah, he thinks that he'll just  
Stay in the hiding and look over ya'll,  
Cuz he's an annoying idiot like that._

 _Hope you find me soon._

* * *

 _If I die young, bury me in satin_  
 _Lay me down on a bed of roses_  
 _Sink me in a river at dawn_  
 _Send me away with the words of a love song._

* * *

 **The last two verses for the songs were in the song If I Die Young, not Hide and Seek. Anyway,** **thanks for reading!**

 **x Indigo**


End file.
